The lovingly restored, guardsman-blue '64 Ford Mustang convertible blew into town doing fifty-two in a forty. Twenty seconds later Maggie Barnes nailed him. Lights flashing, siren wailing, the sweet, high sound cops loved and everyone else feared, she drove up behind him and pointed to the curb when he looked in the rearview mirror. She read his lips and laughed out loud.

Sometimes she really loved being a cop. When the speeder was Tucker Jones it only made life that much sweeter. Her old friend Tucker could always make her laugh. And since today was Friday and Valentine's Day, Maggie could use some entertainment.

Valentine's Day was highly overrated, in her opinion. The fact she was single and not dating anyone had nothing to do with it, she assured herself. She didn't like it because it was a stupid holiday designed to make money for florists, jewelers and producers of chocolate. Besides that, work usually sucked on Valentine's Day. You could never tell what crazy thing someone would get into their head to do and then she would have to clean up the mess.

Seeing Tucker Jones's beautiful blue eyes and listening to his latest excuse about why he was speeding seemed like a much better alternative to wondering what new disaster was waiting for her later that evening.

Since it was a near-record warm day for February, he'd been driving with the top down and was waiting for her when she reached the car, his fingers beating a tattoo on the car door. The car, like its owner, was bad, gorgeous and sexy. She knew all about that badass car of Tucker's, because he'd told her in exhaustive detail on more than one occasion how he'd rebuilt and restored it.

"Hey, Maggie."

"Hey, Tucker."

"Is there a problem?" he asked. Of course, he knew perfectly well why she'd stopped him.

She took off her sunglasses and hooked them on her shirt pocket. "Well, now, there sure is."

"I wasn't speeding. Your radar must be broken."

"I didn't say I pulled you over for speeding."

"Why did you, then?"

"Because you were speeding. Again." Maggie looked him over and smiled. "Fifty-two in a forty.You're busted, Tucker. License and registration, please." She reflected that she ought to have that information memorized by now.

"I know a good lawyer. I'll get out of it. Save yourself the trouble." He handed her his driver's license and reached in the glove compartment for the vehicle registration.

Maggie laughed. Tucker was a lawyer and he undoubtedly would get out of the ticket. That fact never stopped him from arguing, though. Or her from giving him a ticket if she wanted. "You know what they say about a lawyer who defends himself."

"Having a fool for a client? Witty. Very witty. Have I mentioned I really go for a woman in uniform?" He gave her a wicked, sexy grin.

Damn, he was cute. And he knew it, too. She started writing information on the ticket. "Only every time I've ever pulled you over. Too many to count."

"Have I ever said I really go for beautiful redheads in uniform? Especially a cop uniform?"

She nodded. "Also every time I've pulled you over." She glanced at him and added, "Funny thing, that's the only time you ever mention it."

"It was worth a try." He gave her his most charming smile, which she admitted was something to see.

"Did you have a reason for speeding?" He almost certainly didn't. Unless it was because he liked his cars as fast as he liked his women.

"Why do I need a reason? No one can drive this car and not speed. It's unnatural."

Maggie snorted. "Doesn't the fact that we've been friends since high school make a difference?"

"Tucker, if I only stopped people I didn't know, I'd never stop anyone. Then the chief would fire me and what would I do? Sell shoes?"

"Come on, Mags, have a heart."

"Don't call me 'Mags,'" she said. He knew she hated it and did it to annoy her. "Cops give tickets. Cops don't have hearts."

"I know one cop who does. You." He looked at her soulfully and, she hated to admit, it was proving effective.

She handed him the warning ticket. "You could be right. But don't let it get out."

He grabbed her hand and kissed it lavishly. "You're one in a million. Run away with me and be my love. We'll go to Mexico." He kissed her hand again. "Or Aruba. Or Tahiti. We'll go—"

Laughing, she pulled her hand away. "Stop that, you fool. I'm on duty here."

"You won't run off with me?" He looked incredibly disappointed.

Maggie shook her head. "Sorry. You'd be flirting with another woman before the plane touched down. Possibly before it left."

"Oh, come on, Maggie. I'm not that bad."

"Ha."

"I'm not. You sound like my mother."

"Gee, thanks." Maggie didn't much care for Tucker's mother, and the feeling was more than mutual. Eileen Jones always looked at Maggie as if she were something nasty stuck to the bottom of her shoe. "What's she done this time?"

"Same thing she always does. 'Darling, you must stop this incessant womanizing and settle down. I know just the girl,'" he said in a fair imitation of his mother's accent.

"How many women has she introduced you to over the years?" Maggie asked. "Hundreds?"

"I've lost count. I've been going out with the latest in a long list. Several times."

Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Sounds serious."

"Well, it's not." He scowled. "Damn it, that doesn't mean I'm a womanizer."

"Seems a little harsh," Maggie agreed. "I'd call you a player, myself, but incessant player-izing doesn't have quite the same ring."

"Very funny. The woman has an obsession with having grandchildren. You'd think she had one foot in the grave."

"You can't blame your mother for wanting grandkids. You are her only child and you'd have pretty babies."

He put his hand over his heart and patted. "Be still. Maggie Barnes just paid me a compliment."

"Don't let it go to your head," she advised him. "It's fat enough already."

"I think the term is swelled."

"Fat, swelled, makes no difference to me." Surprisingly, Tucker wasn't conceited, she just liked to tease him. Oh, he knew he was good-looking and that women liked him. They'd been after him since high school so he could hardly help knowing it. But Tucker believed most women pursued him because he'd grown up with money and then made a bundle on his own, when he'd practiced in San Antonio before moving back to the Aransas City area. She suspected there was a story there, but beyond an odd comment or two, he'd never told her.

Her radio squawked and she pressed the button down in response. "Crap," Maggie said when she heard the code. "I've got to go. Cheer up, Tucker. At least you don't have to go break up a domestic disturbance."

"Maggie." He put his hand on her arm. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always am," she told him. "But thanks for worrying."